Kaguzou Mashiroi

Kaguzou is proud, stubborn and accustomed to commanding respect. Even when his relationship with Utsuzou Mashiroi has deteriorated to the point that his son refuses to leave a storehouse, Kaguzou hires outsiders to resolve the problem rather than openly admitting that his own approach may have contributed to it.

His severity does not mean that he lacks affection. Kaguzou genuinely worries about Utsuzou and commands considerable loyalty from his subordinates despite his age and illness. He also shows compassion toward Nakamura Kyoujirou, giving the orphaned boy a home and treating him as part of the family.

Kaguzou is an experienced yakuza leader rather than a character primarily defined through combat. He commands the Mashiroi Group and retains the respect of its members even as his health deteriorates.

His greatest demonstrated authority is organizational. The Mashiroi household operates around his decisions, and his position allows him to employ the Yorozuya for the unusual task of retrieving his reclusive son.

Kaguzou hires Sakata Gintoki, Shimura Shinpachi and Kagura to persuade Utsuzou to emerge from the storehouse where he has lived for five years. The assignment gradually exposes the history of the Mashiroi family and Kyoujirou's place within it.

Kaguzou's failing health leaves him increasingly concerned about what will happen to his family and organization after him. His relationship with Kyoujirou becomes particularly important because the young lieutenant has effectively grown into another son.

After Kaguzou's death, Gintoki's promise to protect Kaguzou's "son" ultimately applies to Kyoujirou as much as it ever did to Utsuzou.

Utsuzou Mashiroi is Kaguzou's biological son and the intended heir to the Mashiroi Group. Their relationship is strained by Utsuzou's rejection of the yakuza life his father expects him to inherit.

Nakamura Kyoujirou is Kaguzou's adopted son in practice, having been taken into the Mashiroi household as a child. Kyoujirou remembers Kaguzou as the first adult who smiled at him and regards him as a father.

Sakata Gintoki is hired by Kaguzou through the Yorozuya and becomes involved in the family's internal problems.